


:rr. 4 .^ K 







<4 




& .: 



W 










• >£» t* » 





^% 




: XS 







v* v 







v. -^ J 




** v % 













W§ : ^ ''Wig! J * "-^P* 



i\%« J 




',ii 



A.iLvz-.iJii.;!Kii«t l ,i s&Kiir*«« 






AN 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 



OF 



ANCIENT AGRICULTURE, 



STOCK BREEDING AND MANUFACTURES, 



IN 



HEMPSTEAD. 



BY 



HENKY ONDERDONK, Jr. 



of W*sh\*&° 



P JAMAICA. 
' LONG ISLAND 
1867; 



THIS TRIBUTE TO THE INDUSTRY AND THRIFT 



OF THE 



ANCIENT SETTLERS OF HEMPSTEAD. 



IS RESPECTFLLLY DEDICATED TO THE 



OFFICERS 



Queens County Age^cutu^al Society, 



■ 



HISTORY. 



Hempstead was settled in 1G43, by emigrants from New England, 
who first bought the land from the Indians, and then obtained a 
patent for it from the Dutch Governor, the terms of which were : 
(hat after ten years from that time, they were to pay the Govern- 
ment a tenth of the revenue arising from the ground manured (i. e. f 
worked) by plow or hoe ; or, if they should improve their stock by 
grazing or breeding of cattle, then to make such reasonable satisfac- 
tion in butter and cheese as the other towns on Long Island. 

This tax in 1657, that is, fourteen years after the settlement of 
the town, amounted to 100 schepels or Dutch bushels (three pecks 
each) of wheat. Under the English government this tax was con- 
tinued by the name of quit-rent at £1 per annum. 

The emigrants appear to have settled at first compactly in the vil- 
lage for greater security against Indian hostilities, a fort furnished 
with commodities for the Indian trade subsequently being built in 1656 
at the church, and their flocks and herds driven out in the summer on 
the great plains to pasture. 

The first volume of the town records embracing a period of fifteen 
years, is unfortunately lost, so that we must ever remain ignorant of 
much of its earlier history. Though often alarmed with apprehen- 
sions of danger, we hear of only one hostile encounter with the 
natives, and that was caused by stealing pigs. The Indians, though 
in general inoffensive, would sometimes steal or maim domestic ani- 
mals, or set their dogs upon th^m. In this way horses, cows, and 
hogs were sometimes destroyed. In 1660 the town voted, that no 
one should sell or give a dog to an Indian under penalty of fifty 
guilders. 



44 

In 1G43 there were thirty houses and two hundred or three hun- 
dred Indian warriors at. Rockaway. In 1671 these had been reduced 
to ten families, and had forty acres reserved to them for corn. The 
town, however, forbid anyone to plow or break up any planting land 
for them, and strange Indians were ordered off. In 1671 the " old 
Indian wig-wams at Jerusalem" are spoken of. 

Though the Indians sold the land, they yet claimed certain rights, 
such as fishing, hunting, planting corn and cutting basket-wood 
wherever they could find a suitable tree ; the wood was dyed of vari- 
ous colors and the baskets peddled about the country by squaws. 

The first settlers probably found sufficient cleared ground for their 
purpose. We find in 1708 the barking or girdling of trees on the 
undivided lands was prohibited under a penalty of six shillings. The 
"Island of Trees'* is first mentioned in 1658. Their houses were 
constructed of logs, thatched with straw or sedge, and the chimneys 
built of wooden slats laid in clay. Hence Hempstead, more than 
once in its early days was endangered by fire, and rewards were 
given to those who helped to quench it. In 1669 every householder 
was required to have a sufficient ladder to stand by his chimney un- 
der penalty of five shillings ; chimneys were swept and not burnt. 
(In East Hampton in 1730, the price of sweeping the house chimney 
was one shilling and six pence ; that of the kitchen nine pence.) 
On the erection of saw-mills, boards and shingles must have super- 
seded logs and thatch ; the clay-pits furnished brick for chimneys. 

Long Island has been called the garden of New York and the 
crown of the Province ; its fruit fulness has ever been acknowledged. 
In the Revolutionary war a Tory writer advised the British Minister 
to land the forces destined fur the subjugation of the colonies on Long- 
Island; ''for/' said he, "it is 130 miles long and is very fertile, 
abounding in wheat and every other kind of grain, and has innume- 
rable black cattle, sheep, hogs, &c\, so that in this fertile island 
the army can subsist without any succor from Engl ami. It has a 
fertile plain twenty-four miles long, with a fertile country about it 
and is twenty miles from New York, and from an encampment on 
this plain the British army can in five or six days invade any of the 
colonies at pleasure. The spot I advise you to land at is Cow Bay." 

The English did, indeed, land on Long Island, and after the cap- 
ture of New York, male that city the head-quarters of the army of 



45 

invasion, and for nearly seven years drew their supplies of fresh and 
salt hay, oats, straw, wheat, rye, indian-corn, buckwheat and fire- 
wood from our island, and for an encouragement to farmers to raise 
plentiful supplies of fresh provisions, vegetables and forage for lh 
army, the British commandant forbid all persons from trespassing 
or breaking down or destroying fences or carrying away produce 
from the owners. In 1780 the requisition on Queens County was fcr 
4 500 cords of wood ; in 1782 North Hempstead alone furnished 
1,000 cords to the British forces in New York. 

CATTLE. 

Cattle were imported for breeding as early as 1625, and a cow 
was worth in New York c£30. The abundant grass on the plains 
doubtless turned the attention of the early settlers to the raising of 
stock, but as yet there were few or no fences ; so a herdsman was 
hired by the town to take care of the cattle from the 11th of May 
till the 23d of October, when the Indian harvest would be wholly 
taken in and housed. In 16G7 the town hired Abm. Smith to 
keep the cattle from destroying the corn planted or sowed in the 
plain called the field, and he is to have one and a half bushels per 
acre paid him for this service. Even at this time complaint is made 
of birds and worms destroying the corn ; so important was this office 
(cow-herd) deemed, that the conditions of agreement were entered at 
large on the town book. At the blowing of a horn, the sun being 
now half an hour high, the owners of the cattle drove them from their 
several pens into one common herd, when they were taken under the 
acre of the cow-keeper and his dog and driven on the plains ; he was 
to keep them from going astray or wandering in the woods or getting 
on the tilled land ; to water them at some pond at reasonable hours : 
to drive them weekly to the south meadows ; and then bring them 
•home a half an hour before sunset that they might be milked. For 
this service (in 165S) the hire was twelve shillings sterling p^r 
week in butter, corn and oats. 

The number of cattle in Hempstead fifteen years after its first 
settlement may be inferred from the fact, that seven bulls were kept 
fer the town's use, and that there were then ninety calves that had 
been weaned and intended to be kept over ; these also at the sound 
of the horn went out to grass under another keeper on the 2d of 
June, just a fortnight after their dams had been at pasture. These 



46 

were to be watered twice a clay and taken to the salt meadows once 
in two weeks and brought home at night and put in an enclosure to 
protect them from the wolves. 

After a while cow-herds were dispensed with, and it was found 
that fences were necessary for the pasture grounds. Hence we hear 
(1658) of the East and the West ox pastures. These were enclosed 
by fences ; some of two rails, others of five. Thus Cow Neck 
(1669) was fenced (as the turn-pike now runs) from Hempstead Har- 
bor to Great Neck, and Rockaway (sometimes called Rockaway 
Cow Neck) had in 1690 a fence running from the landing across to 
Jamaica bay. Each proprietor had the right of putting cattle in 
these pasture grounds in proportion to the length of fence he had 
made. By degrees the town required the hollows already granted 
and other cultivated tracts (bevel, tilsome or toilsome and folly — 
whatever these words mean) to be enclosed against cattle. When 
clay-pits were imperfectly fenced in cattle sometimes fell in and 
were drowned. 

In 1756 to secure animals grazing on the commons a sure supply 
of water, highways were laid out to and about several watering 
places on the plains. In the village there were three ponds, one at 
the meeting house (Burly pond), one on the east and another on the 
w r est end. 

After some years a pound for the detention cf stray animals was 
established. In 1708 John Tredwell, Jr., was chosen keeper for the 
term of seven years, if he behaves as a pounder ought to do and 
make a good aud sufficient pound at his own cost. In 1670 the fine 
for trespassing on the burial-ground was, for horses and cows, twelve- 
pence; hogs, six-pence; sheep, four-pence. In 1683 no swine were 
allowed to go at large after February 1st, unless yoked and ringed. 
Tame geese were not to run at large (though yoked) on the common 
after November 5th. 

As an instance of the great attention paid to raising cattle, we 
quote from the inventory of John Smith, Jr., deceased, in 1684. 
Among the articles enumerated of household goods, are two candle- 
sticks, seven wooden dishes, ten trenchers, six spoons, and no forks ; 
from the simplicity of his furniture one might reasonably suppose he 
was in humble circumstances; yet, he was a sturdy, well-to-do 
farmer, the breeder and owner of at least fourteen oxen, seventeen 
cows and calves, six steers, two horses and sixteen sheep. 



47 

Cattle were sold to the butchers for the New York market, and 
also exported alive to the West Indies. In 1658 cattle were bought 
on the great plains of Hempstead, in order to be shipped to the col- 
ony of Delaware. In 1678, what is now the city of New York, con- 
sumed only four hundred beeves ; in 1694 the number arose to near 
four thousand. In 1682 two oxen were sold in Hempstead at two- 
pence per pound, and warranted to come to fourteen pound at New 
York, by weight. 

In 1721 a distemper spread among neat cattle, horses, and hogs; 
and in 1737 Hempstead lost during the winter 850 head of cattle, 
besides sheep and lambs, for want of fodder. 

SHEEP. 

Sheep were not introduced in the town so early as cattle. In 
1643 there were not over sixteen sheep in the whole colony of New 
York ; they were fed on the great plains (1670) under the care of a 
shepherd, who had directions not to let them go over half a mile in the 
woods, for fear of their being lost or destroyed by wolves j no one was 
allowed to take any even of his own sheep from the common flock or 
kill it, but in presence of two witnesses ; their manure was consider- 
ed so valuable, that they were folded or penned at night for the sake 
of their droppings. Cunning farmers sometimes drove by stealth the 
public sheep and neat cattle into their own private grounds, in order 
to profit by the droppings ; this abuse so increased, that it was deemed 
necessary by the town in 1726 and again in 1732 to prohibit the folding 
of sheep or driving them into a close by day or night. As late as 
1755, there was a public sheep-pen in the town-spot of Hempstead. 

Every proprietor had an ear-mark for his own sheep, which was 
recorded in the town book ; these marks were bought and sold ; inge- 
nuity was exhausted in devising new ones. They are described as 
cropt, slit, nicked, half-penny, slashed, three half-pennies, &c, &c. 
There were sheep -stealers who altered these marks. 

In May, the sheep were parted for washing and shearing. In 1710 
the pen was at Isaac Smith's, Herricks ; at another time at Success, 
perhaps for the convenience of having water at hand. After the sheep 
had fed on the plains during summer, on an appointed day in October 
or November, the owners, severally, arose early in the morning and 
commenced chiving in the sheep from the outskirts of the plains to a 



48 



large central pen, then each selected his own by the ear-mark and put 
them in the smaller pens adjoining. This process was continued till 
all the sheep were taken out; but if some yet remained without a 
claimant, they were sold at outcry to the highest bidder and the pro- 
ceeds went toward paying incidental expenses. The sheep-parting 
in the fall is of historical interest ; it was the great holiday of the 
times. Here rogues, thieves, and bullies congregated ; creditors came 
in quest of debtors ; dealers and traders of all sorts made bargains ; 
horses were swapped, and constables were on the look-out for fugitives 
from justice ; scrub-races, betting, gambling, drinking and fighting, 
were the order of the day. To counteract these numerous evils, the 
town enacted a law, that there should be no tavern or selling of 
liquor at the pens. 

HOBSES. 

The settlers seemed to consider the horse as a beast of drudgery 
rather than of elegance and speed. True, most of their travelling 
was of necessity performed on horse-back (sometimes double) through 
" bridle-ways f for in a new country wagon paths were not yet laid 
out. So little regard had they for the comeliness of this animal, that 
he was subjected to the ignominy of being branded with his owners 
name on the buttock and having his ears cropt and slit. Need we 
wonder then that in 1668 Governor Nichols appointed a horse-race 
to take place in Hempstead, " not so much/ 7 he says, " for the diver- 
tisement of youth, as for encouraging the bettering of the breed of 
horses, which through great neglect has been impaired." 

The first course we hear of was on Salisbury plain (so called after 
Capt. Salisbury) near the Wind-mill pond, now Hyde Park station. 
This wind-mill was built near the pond, (about 1726) by George 
Clarke, some time Governor of our State. He called his residence 
(now Mr. Kelsey's) Hyde Park, after the maiden name of his wife, Hyde. 
Thence it was removed to the east of the Court House, where it bore 
the name of New Market till it was removed to the west of Jamaica, 
and became (1821) the Union Course, where in 1823 an Oyster Bay 
horse, Eclipse, established his reputation for speed. 

ROADS. 

In order to illustrate the difficulty of traveling on Long Island in 
early times before much attention was given to the improvement of 



49 

roads, we give some " observations' 7 made by Ecv. N. Huntting, on 
his journey from East Hampton to Newtown, at the beginning of the 
last century. They were noted down in a guide-book that he might 
not miss his way in traveling. 

u Beyond Southampton, about sixteen miles, being about three or 
four miles from a mill, going over a little brook, just beyond a little 
wooden causey, and then two paths ; leave the right path which goes 
away to the marsh, and take the left hand path. 

'• Just over the river by Parker's Fulling-mill leave the right hand 
beaten road (which goes to Southold) and take a little and blind foot 
on the left hand. 

"A little beyond Coram house leave the right hand path which goes to 
Setauket, and take a left hand small path by the comer of the field. 

" A mile beyond Huntington take the left hand path ; about two 
miles further you come to a new built house and an old one on the 
left hand, and a mile further take the left hand path. 

" Going on to Hempstead plain take the right hand of the two first 
paths if you would go the back-way and leave Hempstead town j but 
if you would go through Hempstead, then take the right of the two 
next paths. 

" Going the back-side of Hempstead plain towards Jamaica, being 
got past Hope Williams' about four miles, entering on another part of 
the plain, and being come at one house in the comer of a fence with a 
well before the door, take the left hand path though it be but blind, 
leaving the plainest path going to houses on the right, 

" Going from Jamaica to Newtown, being a little past the last 
house in Jamaica, take the left hand. 

" Going from Newtown to Jamaica, about two miles from New- 
town by field, take the right hand path. 

" When you come to the first plain past Jamaica houses, if you 
would go through Hempstead, take Smith Plain path, but if you 
would go the back-way, take the left hand path. 

" Going toward East Hampton, about five miles beyond Hunting- 
ton by-houses, keep the plain right hand road. 



50 



" Going from Lewis's to Coram, just over the river by a field, take 
the right hand path, the left hand goes to Setaucket. 

" Going from Coram toward Parker's mill, take the left hand by the 
fields, the right hand beaten path goes to the South side of the 
Island." 

Our ancestors, doubtless, undervalued the utility of good roads. 
In 1675 the town voted ten shillings to clear the way between Hemp- 
stead and Little Plains. In 1702 the highway from Jamaica to. New 
York was so bad as to become the subject of general complaint. In 
1808 when a turnpike was projected on this line, the farmers were So 
opposed to it as to hold an indignation meeting. 

HONEY. 

Bee-hives are spoken of in 1691, and probably bees were kept long 
before, as honey supplied the want of sugar. Metheglin and mead 
with home-brewed beer, cider and domestic wine, gladdened the hearts 
of our ancestors, 

SLAVES. 

Slaves were not so abundant in Queens County as in Kings, where 
a negro with his wife and children occupied the kitchen, which they 
claimed as their domain ; and thus often formed an imperium in bu- 
yer io. They were sometimes lazy and insubordinate. The New 
Englanders in speaking of a coward fellow, would say : " He is as 
saucy as a Long Island negro." Being kept from rum, well fed and 
clad, they were healthy and multiplied exceedingly ; so that from 200 
blacks in Queens County in 1698, they had grown in 1738, to the 
number of 1,311. In 1756 the blacks constituted nearly a fourth of 
the population. In Hempstead eighty-two householders reported a 
total of 222 slaves, being on an average not quite three to each family ; 
but slavery was not adapted to this part of the Union and was found 
unprofitable. Emancipation was a boon to the white rather than to 
the black. The expense of food and clothing often exceeded the value 
of their labor. It was sportively, but truly said of a farmer who had 
no corn to sell, " that the hogs had eaten up his corn, and the negroes 
had eaten up the hogs f and thus nothing was left at the year's end. 
After the Revolution, slaves were gradually manumitted, and in 1826 
the institution was no more. Jupiter Hammon, a negro slave of Mr. 



51 

Lloyd, Queens village, Was the author of three publications. Their 
titles were : 1st. A Winter Piece ; 2nd. An Address to the Negroes 
of the State of New York, 1787 j 3d. A second edition of the same, 
1806. The horse-rake is said to be the invention of a Hempstead ne<ro. 
The negroes (bond and free) had a habit of roving from house 
to house on holidays and Sundays. A mug of cider was accorded 
them with which they were content ■ but a dram pleased them more. 

In 1683 Thomas Higham sells a slave who has lost the fingers of 
the right hand and thumb of the left; and in 1687, Christopher 
Dean sells an Indian boy, slave to Nathaniel Pine. Old newspapers 
abound in advertisements for runaway slaves. In 1722 Ezekiel 
Baldwin offers d3 reward for a runaway Indian slave. 



TOBACCO. 

Tobacco must have been extensively cultivated in Hempstead in 
early times, as we may infer from the frequent occurrence of such 
expressions as "weeding tobacco," "stripping off tobacco," "a smoking 
of it," "planting tobacco on halves," "the old tobacco land," (1676) 
" a hogshead of tobacco," &c. In 1646 it sold at forty cents per 
pound in New York. In 1678 John Kissam bought ninety -nine acres 
of land on Great Neck for c£90, to be paid in good merchantable 
blade tobacco in casks, to be delivered at the weight-house in New 
York. The culture of tobacco for merchandize gradually fell away ; 
but a little was raised for home consumption, for our frugal ancestors 
bought nothing from abroad that they could produce at home. The 
farmers well understood the process of caring of it. After the leaf was 
stripped off, it was suspended from the rafters of the house to dry. When 
needed for smoking, it was cut with a knife on a tobacco-board and 
kept moist in a pouch made of hog's bladder. Chewing-tobacco re- 
quiring more skill in preparation, was bought of the manufacturer. 
In 1737 the farmers got three-pence per pound for their leaf-tobacco. 

Raising tobacco has been successful as late as 1833; for the editor 
of a Brooklyn paper said : " A few days ago we saw two large bales 
of tobacco on their way to New York. It appeared equal to that of 
the South, and was raised a little below Hempstead, by an enterpris- 
ing farmer, from Spanish seed, and was of the 2nd year's planting." 



52 
POTATOES. 

Potatoes were not mentioned in the early records of Hempstead, 
and could not have been cultivated till long after the first settlement. 
A large sort called Bermudian was imported as early as 1636. Our 
potatoes in olden times were poor, small and watery and quite un- 
palatable, compared with those now raised. They did not form an 
important item of diet and were not an article of daily consumption 
on a dinner table. Perhaps they were as little used as beets, parsnips, 
or carrots at the present day. Indeed a story is told of a farmer at 
Flatbush, just before the Revolution, who found his crop amounted 
to a wagon load j such an excess puzzled his brain. At last he be- 
thought himself to send word to his neighbors to come and carry oif 
as many as they wanted. 

TURNIPS. 

Turnips were under cultivation before potatoes j but their culture 
received a great impulse from the zeal and example of Wm. Oobbett, 
Who came to this country in 1817 and took up his residence at Hyde 
Park, where he raised ruta-bagas in ridge-rows with great success. 

GRASSES. 

The first settlers did not find the artificial grasses of the old country 
here, but abundant natural grass on the plains, which made up by its 
quantity what it lacked in nutrition. The old people say, that the 
plain grass grew so rank and tall that the dew on it would wet a 
man's knees as he was taking a morning ride through it on horseback. 
Poor and coarse as this grass was, it required strict regulations 
(1697) to preserve its use for the inhabitants. Thus in 1726 an act 
was passed to prevent firing the grass on the plains, and in 1748 
another act forbid the mowing of grass upon the plains before the 
28th day of August. It seems that some of the more greedy towns- 
folk anticipated their neighbors in cutting the grass before it came to 
full growth. Clover, timothy, lucerne and other grasses have been 
successively introduced. The advocates of lucerne (1788) claimed 
that it could be mowed five times in a season and cut eight loads per 
acre, increased the mess of cow's milk and the quality of the butter, 
and that it sustained horses as well as oats did, in their hardest labor. 



53 



FLAX. 



Flax must have been raised from the beginning. Its cultivation 
involved a vast deal of painful labor, in which the women had their 
full share. It was pulled by men or boys (not frequently by young 
women.) In busy times women often lent a helpiug hand, and usually 
did the milking at all times) and bound in small sheaves. After har- 
vest a sturdy laborer seizing a sheaf by the butt-end, beat out the 
seed by striking it on a stone. The seed commanded good prices and 
was exported to Ireland. The flax-stalk was spread in rows on the 
grass. When the upper side was sufficiently " rotted," it was turned 
over with a long pole in order to expose the under side to the action 
of sun and rain. It was next stowed away in the barn till the leisure 
hours of winter, when it was set out in the sun and wind, that it 
might become dry and brittle in order to its being " crackled." After 
the seed ends had been hatcheled out, it was dressed on a swingle 
board with a hickory swingle knife. It was then carried into the 
garret of the dwelling house to be again hatcheled by the women who 
were kept busy the winter long in spinning the yarn on a foot-wheel. 
So urgent was this work, that women when invited out to tea some- 
times took their wheels with them. Few now remember the little 
round tea-table in use over fifty years ago, around which about half a 
dozen ladies sat at a foot's distance, with handkerchief on lap and a 
tiny tea cup in hand. On the table were a plate of thin-sliced bread 
thickly buttered, a plate of cake and of smoke-beef, with a saucer of 
sweet meats, into which each guest dipped her spoon. This yarn 
was woven (in the family loom frequently) into sheetings, diapers and 
stuff for domestic wear. Some was knit into stockings, which was a 
favorite employment or pastime for old ladies and very little girls. 
The brown linen was bleached white in a " whitening yard" so called. 
The " tow" resulting from the several hatchelings was spun on a 
coarser wheel and made into ropes and harness for horses. The sum- 
mer garments of slaves were woven from tow-yarn. The millenium 
of women began when cotton, aided by machinery, superseded flax. 
This was scon after our last war with Great Britain. 

WHEAT. 

Wheat was probably raised from the first, as the Government tax 
Was paid in that grain in 1657. . In 1786 it was so much affected by 
the Hessian fly, that its cultivation was in a degree abandoned for a 
time, and rye took its place. Some farmers, I have been told, raised 



54 



only enough to have flour for cake and pastry and a wheaten loaf on 
Sundays, and for the regale of visitors. Before the introduction of 
the German fan and modern threshing machines, the "cleaning up" of 
wheat and other grain was most tedious and laborious. The grain 
was threshed out by a flail or trodden out by horses driven in a circle 
on the barn-floor. Taking advantage of a windy day, the grain was 
separated from the chaff by tossing both into the air. A hand-fan 
finished the process. Lewis S. Hewlett had a threshing machine in 
1812, but it did not answer any good purpose. 

RYE. 

Rye was early raised as well for th8 grain as for the superior 
quality of the straw for thatching, binding sheaves, &c. When straw 
was taken to New York for sale, it was unloaded at the York side of 
the ferry, where it was piled up till a customer came along. The 
horses were turned out to grass at Brooklyn ferry. 

BARLEY. 

Barley, though not so often spoken of, was raised to some extent. 
It was sometimes mowed instead of cradled. It was not usually 
bound in sheaves, but simply raked up in parcels and thrown upon 
the wagon by aid of a barley -fork. In 1743 a field of barley was 
destroyed by caterpillars and worms of an uncommon kind. 

OATS. 

Oats was always one of the crops. 

CORN. 

Indian corn was already grown by the Aborigines, who taught the 
" pale-faces" the virtue of fish as an applied manure. 

FERTILIZERS. 

The settlers found the soil so fresh and fertile in its natural state, 
that little or no manure was needed. The hollows, valleys and 
richer spots of ground were first taken up, but as the soil gradually 
became exhausted by tillage, home-made manures were used. The 



55 



animals grazing on the plains were (as far as practicable) penned at 
night for the sake of their droppings, and the old dead grass was burned 
that its ashes might fertilize the soil. 

In Kings County, manure was imported from New York by (and 
probably long before) 1768 ; but it is not known that any was brought, 
thence to Hempstead, till after the Revolution. In 1792 there were 
manure boats in Cow Bay ; and in 1800 (if not before) " spent ashes" 
were imported from the soap boilers of New York into North Hemp- 
stead. After horse-manure rose in price, street "dirt" gradually 
came in use. It was a long time before the older farmers could re- 
alize that high manuring was in reality true economy. No chemist 
then studied and analyzed our soils and invented appropriate fertilizers. 
Farmers experimented as well as they could. Plowing in of clover 
was at one time recommended. Marl, lime, plaster of Paris, sea- 
weed and marine grasses, fish, &c v have been used with various de- 
grees of success* 

CURRENCY. 

At the time of the settlement of Hempstead, there was little, if 
any, current coin. The exchanges were made by barter. In bills of 
sale and contracts, it was specified in what the pay was to consist. 
It was usually in some of the following articles : 

" In good sized wampum ; in good pay ; in corn j in wampum pay j 
for twenty beavers j in wampum or merchantable goods equivalent ; 
in com at' current prices ; at beaver prices j at seventy guilders in 
good seawant beaver j in our common pay ; in wampum or corn at 
current prices j in New England currency j in meeting-house pay ; in 
merchants' pay ; in beaver, or cattle at beaver price j in corn pay j at 
four guilders, or if paid in wampum, then twice that sum ; at prices 
current equivalent to good merchantable pork, wheat, beaver or sea- 
want." 

If the payment was to be made in farm produce, the price per 
pound or bushel was named in the writing. 

In 1G73 there was yet but little coin. Wampum was adopted as 
a circulating medium from the Indians, who manufactured it dex- 
trously with rude instruments, as the heaps of broken sea-shells 
formerly so abundant along the coast, testify. A hogshead of warn- 



56 



pum is spoken of which a man kept in his cellar. This shows how 
abundant it was. 

In process of time copper coin was imported from England, and 
some silver came in from the Spanish trade and found exports to the 
West Indies. Portuguese gold coin, such as doubloons, joes and half 
joes were occasionally met with. Such was the diversity of the coin 
and some of light weight, that all considerable dealers kept a specie- 
scales to test the worth of each piece. I have myself seen a gold 
coin wrapped in a paper, on which was written the goldsmith's certi- 
ficate of its weight and value. 

The first paper money in the colony was in 1709, when our Gene- 
ral Assembly issued bills of credit to defray the war debt. These 
issues were renewed from time to time in order to increase our cur- 
rency. In 1737, c£6,000 was loaned to Queens County. Bills issued 
in the neighboring States, also found their way on Long Island. In 
1723 a school master being detected in passing counterfeit bills, hanged 
himself in a stable at Hempstead. 

At the outbreak of the Revolution, a large issue of paper money 
was made by the Continental and Colonial Congress, which, however, 
was soon driven out of our Island by the British silver and gold ex- 
pended here so freely during the armed occupation. 

The last issue of bills of credit by our State, was in 1786. In the 
course of time banks were chartered by the Legislature. 

The settlers used Dutch weight, measures ..and money. Hence, we 
hear of schepels of wheat, ankers of wine, muches of rum, guilders, 
stuivers, &c. 

PRICES. 

Our price list cannot be very satisfactory, as we do not know what 
causes may have influenced prices. No doubt wars abroad and at 
home, abundance and scarcity of crops, varied the cost of articles 
from year to year. 

BEFORE 1700. 

Butter, 6d. ; pork, A^d ; beef, M. per lb. ; wheat per bushel 4/0 to 5/0 ; corn, 3/0to 
2/6; day's work in harvest, 3/6 ; hire of a team, 3/6; 100 rails, 5/0 ; week's 
board, 5/0 ; green hides, 3rf. per lb. ; silver per oz., 6/0 ; new cart and wheels, 



57 



£3 ; catching wolf, 20/0 (in corn) ; Minister's salary, £70 and parsonage, and 
tVed delivered ; Town Clerk, 40/0 per year (in corn); fees of Tax Collector* 
Brf, on the poiiud. 

ABOUT J 737. 

Per pound ; b.-ef, 2d, ; butter, Id. ; leaf tobacco, 3§d. ; feathers, 22d. ; starch, 8d'. i 
bacon, A\d. ; sugar, 8d. ; linen yarn, 2/10. 

Per bushel : wheat, 3 3 to 4/0 ; rye, 2/6 ; oats, 1/6 ; corn, 2/8. 

Per gallon i molasses, 2\d. ; rum, 3/6 to 5/0; vinegar, Qd. to 9d. : milk, 6d. 

Pay's wages of negro. 2 3: of a washer woman, 1/3. 

Turkeys, 5/0 each ; chickens, hd. ; pigs, 3/0 ; calf-skin, 2/6 ; hind quarter of very 
good veal, 2/6 ; of mutton, 2/9 ; of lamb, 1/9 ; 60 eggs, 1/6 ; a Dutch plow* 
£1 3/3 ; a wagon and tackling, £4 10/0 ; scythe and tackling, 7/4 ; 100 rails, 
12/0 ; midwife's fees, 14/0 ; fourteen pounds of butter was exchanged for half 
a pound of tea ; barrel cider, 6/0. 

1750 to 1760. 

Per pound : 2\d. to 2£rf. for beef; pork, A\d. ; gammon, 6d. ; wool, 1/3; mutton 
?>d. to Ad. ; veal, 3^d. ; leather, Is. 2d. ; candles, 9d. ; flax, 7d. ; butter, 1/0 '. 
cheese, 6rf. ; chocolate, 2/6 ; soap, Is 2d; iron, id. ; tobacco, 5rf. ; lath nails, 1/3; 

Per bushel : wheat, 5/6 ; rye, 4/6 ; corn, 3/0 ; flax-seed, 3/6, 5/0 and 10s. ; clams. 
Qd. ; potatoes, Is. 6d to 3s. ; oats, 2s. ; bran, Wd. ; turnips, 16d. ; lime, 12rf. 

Per gallon : tar, 2s. ; milk, Is. ; vinegar, Is. ; rum, 4s. ; wine, 12s. 

Pay's work mowing, 3s. 3d. ; ordinary work. 2s. 6d. ; young apple trees, 6d. ; 
marriage fees, 8s. to 24s. ; day's work carpenter, 5s.; digging a grave, 6s.; 
beaver hat, £2 8s. ; a wig, £2 16s.; a pewter spoon, 6d. ; a candlestick, Is. 
?.</. ; a broom, 5f/. ; tea-kettle, 20s. ; a dozen knives and forks, 6s. 6d. ; ox-load- 
of walnut wood, 3s. ; a christening, 20s. ; English hay per cwt., 5s. 

physician's fees, 1730. 

An emetic, Is. Gd. ; bleeding and attendance, 2s. ; drawing a tooth, Is. ; journey at 
night and attendance, Is. 6d. ; two cathartics, 3s. ; two paregoric draughts, 5s. ; 
anodyne pill and journey, 2s. ; eye-water, 2s.; two doses Ethiop's mineralis, 

2s. ; innoculating four children, 4s. ; opening an imposthume, Is. 

* 

1740 TO 1750. 

Bleeding, Is. ; emetic, Is. ; linctus ad tussem, 9d. ; styptic, Is. ; sudorific, Is. ; visit 
3s. ; visit in the night, 4s. ; electuary, 5s. ; jalap, 2s. ; opening a tumor, Is 



58 



(id. ; three blister plasters, Is.; potion powder for diarrhoea, Is.; large anodyne, 
plaster, 2s. 6d. febrifuge decoction for diarrhoea, 8s. ; seven febrifuge pills, 
2s. Ad. ; one visit and writing patient's will, 3s. ; visit and advice to a child, 
Is. ; ad aperiendum tumor em, Is. 



Our ancestors had great faith in native herbs and roots. The list 
would more than fill this page. Clergymen were sometimes doctors ; 
also as was the Eev. Samuel Seabury, of Hempstead ; but they all 
kept a book of recips in which the virtues of roots and herbs were 
duly set forth ; and thus were often consulted for advice by their sick 
parishioners. Dr. Searing was a most noted worm doctor. He was 
also famed throughout the country for curing jaundice. 

There were strange diseases then as now that overspread the 
country and baffled the skill (such as it was) of the physicians ; such 
as small-pox (1730) j malignant sore throat distemper (1769) ; great 
sickness (1668); pleurisy (1728) ; dysentery (1790) ; intermittent, re- 
mittent and bilious fevers in North Hempstead in 1820, 1829, 1830 
and 1831. 



FISHERIES. 

It would be hardly possible to exaggerate the value of the fisheries 
of Long Island. Great numbers of persons on the north and south 
shores have, time out of mind, pursued a lucrative employment in 
catching fish, eels, oysters, clams, scollops, crabs, &c, for the New 
York markets ; but the statistics are to us unknown. As early as 
1643 the Indians at Rockaway feasted their white visitors with oys- 
ters and fish ; and as late as 1667 they dried oysters and clams for a 
tribute to their more warlike brethren on the Main, 

The whaling business must have been followed to some extent by 
the people of this town, for in 1710 the town granted the " woodland 
at Rockaway for the use of the whalemen of Hempstead to cut fire- 
wood from for the use of the whaling design." Whale neck is spoken 
of in the records in 1658 and 16S4. 

To such an extent did interlopers rake up the clams and break 
their shells to make lime of, that it was forbidden by a town act 
in 1753. The value of horse-feet for chickens and swine is well 
known. 



59 



TREES. 

Fruit trees hare been more successfully cultivated on the north 
than on the south side of our island. Apple, pear, peach and cherry- 
trees were probably nearly coeval with the settlement. An orchard 
is spoken of in Hempstead in 1657. The peach was proverbially 
abundant. The trees were overloaded and the fruit shaken off daily 
for the swine. Several exotic fruit trees have been introduced, such 
as the Madeira nut, but our severe winters bear hard upon them. 

Ornamental trees have attracted the attention of the more enlight- 
ened farmers and there have been several tree-fevers. The Lom- 
bardy poplar was introduced (1790) and had a great run. Its virtues 
were grossly exaggerated, its leaves were claimed to be better fodder 
for cattle than hay. Long, stately rows by fences and highways 
were to be seen fifty years ago. The white mulberry, (Air. Aspin- 
wall, of Flushing had a nursery of white mulberry trees in 1760) 
whose leaves were the food of silk worms, also had its day. Who 
does not recall to mind the morus-multicaulis and the ailanthus '? A 
Virginia trader is said to have planted the first locust at Sand's 
Point, whence it has spread over the Island. 

When we have such a variety of nuts at home, why should we 
send our money abroad for those but little (if at all) superior to our 
chestnuts, butternut,*, black walnuts and hickory nuts % 

The father of the writer (whose zeal for propagating trees is 
well known) planted a nut from which grew a black walnut tree 
of such dimensions, that when sawn up into plank, it furnished 
coffins for himself and wife. 

WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES. 

Prom the wool shorn from the sheep the women carded rolls. 
TliL\se ? by a large woollen wheel were spun into yarn, which was 
woven in the domestic loom. This cloth was, perhaps, at first worn 
without being colored, fulled or dressed; but in time, carding, full- 
ing and shearing mills were set up on sites granted by the town on 
numerous streams. Leather cloths of sheepskin were much worn by 
the laboring class. Buckskin formed part of a tailor's stock in trade. 
In 1775 Congress recommended to farmers and others not to kill 
lambs, but to preserve them for the sake of their wool. Shoes were 
sometimes made of dog's skins. 



60 

INVENTIONS. 

Patents have been granted to the inventive genius of Queens 
County, as follows : 

1814 to Peter Baker, Long Island, machine for catting grass. 
1821 u Andrew Cooke, Flushing, seeding corn planter. 
1821 '' Thomas Morgan, Hempstead, manufacturing nails. 
1832 tl Homer Whittemore, Newtown, card?, boards, &c. 

1812 " Rev. Seth Hart, Hempstead, cloth dressing. 
1811 u Jessie Molleneux, u shearing cloth. 

1836 " Rev. W. H. Carmichael, D. D., Hempstead, stoves. 
1820 ,l Win. R. Loweree, Flushing, machine for propelling boats. 

1814 a David Cooper, Jericho, water wheel. 

1817 tl Jarvis Smith, Queens County, a flutter letting water on a 
water wheel. 

1823 lt Jessie Mollineux, North Hempstead, a wind wheel. 

1S11 " Daniel Voorhies, Long Island, a wind wheel or water 
wheel. 

1824 " Nathaniel W. Conklin, Jamaica, a saddle spring. 

1815 Ci Peter Cooper, Hempstead, a cradle. 

1819 u Jeremiah H. Pierson and J. H. Simmons, Hempstead, a 
loom. 

1813 '' John J. Staples, Flushing, wind drawing machine. 
1799 u Rev. Seth Hart, machine for manufacturing nails. 

Rev. Mr. Hart, Rector of the Episcopal Church, Hempstead, was 
of an inventive turn of mind. In addition to his ministerial duties, 
he kept a classical boarding and day school. He was at great ex- 
pense in a fruitless attempt to secure a patent in England for his 
cloth dressing machine. He also failed in the manufacture of 
brooms. So many avocations led to a neglect of his flock, and many 
passed into the Methodist fold. 

MECHANICS. 

Mechanics were always acceptable in a new settlement. In 
Hempstead, as an inducement for this useful class to come and settle 
business among them, grants of land were frealy made to the cooper, 
the blacksmith, the miller, and the like. In 1G91 John Stuard 
petitioned for a grant of land, wishing to establish himself as cooper 
or surgeon, though what is meant by " surgeon 1 ' we cannot say. 



61 

MANUFACTORIES. 

There were sundry manufactures that flourished for a while, siich 
as a pot-ash factory at Herricks, owned by Jos. Burr, 1773. I have 
seen an earthen sugar cup made at a pottery on Cow Neck. Thomas 
Parmyter had extensive works at Whitestone (1736) for making 
tobacco pipes and flower-pots. In 1728 Josiah Millikin, at Glen Cove, 
made periwigs. James Mott, of Westbury, (1816) was an ingenious 
weaver of diapers, coverlets, &c. Alfred Hentz, (at Greenwich) 
clarified quills, which he gathe: ed in his own wagon about the country. 
He also gave lessons in French. A paper mill was set up at Hemp- 
stead Harbor, by Hendrick Onderdonk, in 1773. Buttons of apple 
tree wood were made by Samuel "Wood, at Searingtown, at the 
beginning of this century ; they had a metal shank. Owing to the 
impulse of the war of 1812, a cotton factory was erected at Man- 
hasset, and the Nassau Woollen Factory at Roslyn. The Flushing 
Manufacturing Company was organized in 1813. Who has not 
heard of the woollen manufactures of John H. and Walter R. Jones, 
of Cold Springs ? 

SPORTS. 

Our ancestors, though industrious and frugal, yet knew that " all 
work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Accordingly, they had 
their relaxations from toil ; such as hunting, fowling, going in the 
bay, fishing for shell and scale fish, horse-racing, buckle berry frolics, 
helping spells, raisings, sheep parangs, attending courts and ven- 
dues, looking up meadow hens eggs, beach parties, &c. (A buckle 
berry frolic was, originally, a party of young folks going to the 
woods to pick berries ; they took a lunch with them. When they 
returned they often stopped at a tavern, and with the aid of a fiddler 
finished the day with a dance. Now, it consists chiefly in a series 
of scrub-races and riotous mirth. A beach-party, in which young- 
men and women take a ride to the Rockaway beach, is sometimes 
called a buckle-berry party, because it took place at that season of 
the year.) 

At funerals they had a good time of it. Custom and respect for 
the memory of the deceased required abundant refreshments. At the 
funeral of the minister of Hempstead, in 1764, the sum of ^3 10s. 
was expended for wine ; five gallons of rum were bought for the 
vendue of his effects ; at a funeral of a child in Rev. Thomas Payer's 
family, (1730) Jamaica, five gallons of rum were used; in Nicholas 



62 

Tanner's will (1658) he orders a cow to be killed at his burial and 
given to his neighbors. 

They had home-made beer and wines ; also French and Spanish 
wines found their way into Hempstead before 1658. If the town 
made a grant of land or other privilege to anyone, he was expected 
to treat. Thus, when John Ellison (1676) had a grant of four acres 
at Great Neck, he gave the voters two gallons of rum to drink. 
Thomas Hushmore (16S3) had a silver dram-cup. 

FAIRS. 

The fairs spoken of in 1728 and 1774 were rather market days for the 
sale of merchandize, stock and farm produce. It was in 1819 that the 
first fair was held in Queens County. This was discontinued at the 
end of four years for lack of encouragement. It was in 1842 that the 
present Society held its first fair at Hempstead, which has steadily 
increased in interest, and its success has culminated in the establish- 
ment of its noble permanent ground and appurtenances at Mineola. 

CONCLUSION. 

The thrift of our early settlers was due to their industry and fru- 
gality. Chocolate, tea and coffee had not yet taxed their resources ; 
milk, with bread and butter, hasty-pudding and homopy constituted 
the principal elements of the morning and evening meal. Spoons (of 
horn or pewter) they had from the first, but not forks. Cider, bread 
and meat, and a few vegetables (but not potatoes) were on their din- 
ner table. 

One or (at most) two candlesticks sufficed for a family that kept 
early hours. Even more than a century later, 365 candles lasted a 
year in a farmer's family. A boy or girl was expected to make on 3 
pair of stout shoes last the year round. 

Fashions did not change, so that the same dress might descend from 
parent to child till fairly worn out: they bought nothing that they 
could make at home. 

Samp was made from wholegrains of corn hulled in a large wooden 
mortar with a heavy pestle. This was a negro's task of a winter 
evening. 



63 



Almost every farmer's son learned some trade-— not that lie must 
necessarily follow it ; but that he might have something to rely on 
for a living. 

Education was not neglected by the settlers ; for we find that the 
town (in 1658) devoted the fines from unlicensed dram-sellers to the 
schooling of poor orphans. In 1662, Jonas Houldsworth was school- 
master, then Richard Gildersleeve, who gave place to Richard Charlton 
in 1670. In 1702 the town voted 100 acres of land for a free school ; 
also timber for building, fencing and firewood. (Rev. Samuel Sea- 
bury, who died in Hempstead in 1764, taught a classical school. 
Next came Rev. L. Cutting, 1766; then Rev. Thomas Lambert 
Moore, 1785 ; Rev. Seth Hart, 1802 ; Rev. Timothy Clowes, L.L.D., 
1819 ; all these clergymen taught classical and boarding schools of 
high reputation) In 1707 four acres of land, west of the meeting 
house pond, was granted to u settle a school master upon for to teach 
our children — the land to be for the use and privilege of a school for 
ever." 



/^W 




r- 

o 

2 




CD > 

3J 2 

O O 

S i 

2 H 



0) 

O 

o 







I 



r! 



» > 













1 h 



fiD-703 




4S ^ * 










*fe>* 





w 












6°+ 



a * o V 

C,vP 




» * &\ * -z 

-0 ^ * 9 , 1 • 

v.* 




*V;£fr.V Jy*ter.%> ^sXi-S** «y A 



"OV* 









W 








» ■* " ships' * cp Co • W53\w * A y "^ - ^anni^' • 
.. ^ 7 ^ f% A & % ,0 <. *^T> .0* 




!fARl977 

5 ^4UGUSTINE 
FLA. 




3 2084 ^«* 



